Now that San Pedro’s Ponte Vista housing has been given the green light, developers are already weighing whether to change the project’s name and whether to add more single-family homes, thereby reducing density.

Meanwhile, as construction begins, a road bisecting the property that has served Mary Star of the Sea High School since the campus opened in 2007 is expected to be closed for the coming school year, forcing all campus traffic onto a single access way from Taper Avenue.

“From a development standpoint, it’s safety first,” said Steve Magee, executive vice president of Land and Development for iStar Residential, which took the lead on the project in 2010. “Can you imagine a soccer mom coming across a (large) road grader?”

The developer has been working with school officials and Los Angeles Councilman Joe Buscaino to resolve traffic issues in the area, Magee said.

In the long term, the developer has promised to build and maintain a road from Western Avenue that will provide a permanent second access to the Catholic high school that serves 500 students.

But for probably most of the 2014-15 school year, which begins Monday, the existing temporary road will remain gated and closed, Magee said.

“We’ll survive it,” said Rita Dever, Mary Star’s principal.

But some neighbors worry that the added traffic will pose significant problems in the surrounding neighborhoods and have requested a public meeting.

“Obviously, we will be exiting and entering through Taper Avenue each day, so it’s going to be a little bit of a challenge,” Dever said.

Five school administrators will help out on traffic supervision in the mornings, Dever said, noting that the area also sees heavy school-related traffic from other campuses. The developer also has agreed to pay for needed traffic personnel to help with traffic flow.

While Dever said it has caused “a little bit of stress,” she had students hand-deliver a letter to parents and neighbors that was generally well received.

On the 61.5-acre Ponte Vista site itself, most of the demolition has been completed, Magee said, opening the way for the next phase that will involve grading — expected to begin this fall — and then installing water and sewer lines.

All but about 10 structures on the property have been demolished so far, he said, adding that some of the 1960s-era military homes needed extra care due to asbestos and other hazardous building materials.

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The first model home should be under construction in 2015, he said, adding that developers will build the single-family portions of the site first as marketing surveys show more interest for them than for town houses or smaller attached units.

“We’ll come out of the gate with some of the single-family products. We have three types designed already,” Magee said. “We’re developing those tracts first.”

The park system, a walking trail around the perimeter and some of the landscaping also are scheduled to go in “relatively early,” he said.

Developers plan to plant more than 2,000 trees, including some along Western that Magee said will “make a dramatic impact” on how the area looks.

Even so, residents remain concerned about traffic impacts on Western when the development is filled. But Magee pointed out that possibly adding more single-family homes could result in fewer units — and fewer people — than the 676 units planned. As they stand now, the plans call for many of those units to be connected town houses.

“If I were a betting man, I’d say revisions on this would be to go a little more toward single-family homes,” he said. “There’s some potential that the density will go down even further. There are no plans to amend it (now), but when you’re building one of these larger developments, you will make some revisions.”

Current plans call for 208 single-family homes along with town houses and single- and multilevel condominiums.

Developers anticipate “a lot of family buyers” for the project, Magee said, based on consumer and real estate focus groups.

While price is hard to pinpoint — and will depend on the housing market at the time properties go on sale probably in two years — Magee estimated single-family homes would sell in the $700,000 range.

Responding to criticisms about the project being built at a time when the state is in a long-running drought, Magee said efforts have been made to address water concerns.

“We are using drought-hardy, minimal-water landscaping,” he said. “The homes ... will all be up to current standards, (with) lower flow toilets ... and Energy Star rated.”

Open areas on the property have been designed using landscape with vegetation, riprap and compost to help clean drainage water and a deep drainage system to move surface water into the ground.

And what about the name?

Partly because Ponte Vista has had such a tumultuous history, Magee said a name change for the development could be in the offing, though no decisions have been made.